Russia Tries To Kick The Vodka Habit

nytimes.com:

MYTISHCHI, Russia It was late on a Monday afternoon at the drunk tank in this Moscow suburb, but it could have been any day, at any hour, at any similar facility across this land. People would come. They always do. Such is Russia's ruinous penchant for the bottle and the challenge facing a new government policy to curb it.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[SpoonieLuv]

02:02 PM on 11/03/2009

When will people stop calling alcoholism a disease and start recognizing it for the valid lifestyle choice that it is? We do not deserve the persecution of American society and we do not deserve the stigma of being treated as a pariah.

[BorisPutinov]

09:59 AM on 11/03/2009

Tovarich.
I will NEVER, repeat NEVER, give up my Putinka Platinum Limited.
Nothing goes better with a Cohiba than my beloved Putinka.

Boris

[MosheDayanHero]

10:55 AM on 11/03/2009

Learn a few Russian words, before pretending to be one, simpleton.

[BorisPutinov]

09:57 AM on 11/04/2009

Tovarich.
Will you be accepting my invitation to come visit me in December to go Wolf Hunting together in Siberia ??
If not, do not bother me anymore with your bitter stupidities; they are getting very tiresome.
I have no time for people like you in my life; I have made it a point throughout my life to only associate with positive people with a zest for life.
Go bother someone else, enjoy the rest of your life; OK Tovarich.
Incidentally, maybe what really bothers you is my command of the English Language ( I speak, read and write four others with equal fluency - I am a product of our educational system here in the Motherland ).

Boris

[avshanbh]

09:35 AM on 11/03/2009

Yeah..good luck with that.

[GAPeach99]

09:02 AM on 11/03/2009

Chancellor Merkel is going to be addressing a joint session of the US Congress and THIS is your lead story on the World page? Are you kidding me, HP?

[Doc0976]

10:26 AM on 11/03/2009

But it's climate change, so who cares, right?

[SiberianRat]

08:47 AM on 11/03/2009

It really is a tragic problem here. Beer though is the drink of choice for young people and it's not uncommon to see late teens/early 20s people walking around or sitting in parks in the morning before work or class, throwing em back. Vodka is still widely consumed too, of course. There's also a terrible problem with heroin addiction. I don't know how they can best tackle the addiction issue, but they really need to soon because it's destroying millions of lives.

[fbs]

07:35 AM on 11/03/2009

Throw all your troubles in jail and make everything illegal. They must be learning from American drug policy...or not learning I should say.

[SangZe]

07:21 AM on 11/03/2009

It's been tried before. It didn't work in the 1980s, and I doubt it will work now.

[SiberianRat]

08:48 AM on 11/03/2009

Yeah, hopefully they won't just go the Andropov route. The problem is that there's nearly nowhere for people to get the help they need, even if they want to quit.

[Khirad]

05:45 AM on 11/03/2009

Speaking of drinking and ethnic stereotypes (not always ill-deserved), Irish MP recommends a drink to calm the nerves before driving: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE59Q1J020091027

To be honest though, with the low AC of Guinness, that wouldn't impair driving too much. I once knew an Ivan who insisted on drinking before driving. He should have been stinkin' drunk but did drive well. I wouldn't have made a habit out of riding with him though.

[Hirnlego]

05:37 AM on 11/03/2009

I suppose they will fight to bottle, but they'll have to do it drunk...

(credit to L. Cohen)

[KIVPossum]

03:24 AM on 11/03/2009

I've been in and out of Russia every couple of months for the 4 years and before that maybe 15 trips in a decade.

I still get amazed at their love for vodka - it's for sale everywhere (many groceries have more square meters devoted to alcohol than food), 14 year old's swigging from a bottle, drunks lying on the sidwalk peeing in their pants. And the home mixtures - vodka toothpaste, vodka mouthwash.

One thing for sure, never get in a drinking contest with a Russian. You will lose.

[mediamarv]

01:17 AM on 11/03/2009

Is Yeltsin still alive? He could be the poster boy... how does one say tht in Russian? My Google translator is apparently on strike.

[mudshark12]

11:35 PM on 11/02/2009

Will Russia's new alcohol policy work? Nyet.

[MosheDayanHero]

11:22 PM on 11/02/2009

Russian business model
Sell a case of vodka and then use the profits to get drunk.

[hulagirrrl]

12:53 AM on 11/03/2009

They are also pretty busy selling d r u g s via Afghanistan and U r a n i um... there is no boredom there. The headline however made me laugh.....

[MosheDayanHero]

01:52 AM on 11/03/2009

The Afghani opi.um and hash mostly moves through Chechnya by Che.chen gangs with connection to Taliban.

[deluk]

03:06 AM on 11/03/2009

Where's U r a n i um?

[hulagirrrl]

12:54 AM on 11/03/2009

meant to say from Afghanistan

[Bcasey11]

10:18 PM on 11/02/2009

what else are they gonna do for fun

[max08]

09:46 PM on 11/02/2009

This has been a goal since WWII.